Exploring midcentury modern architecture and spaces of worship in the United Methodist Tradition
Every time I visit Southern California I imagine myself a less relentless version of Jake Gettes, bypassing Chinatown for Chinese restaurants, the thoughts “mother” and “sister” replaced with “Escondido” and “embanadas”, who seeks answers not in city hall but in forgotten cul-de-sacs and suburban boulevards. I wish that I could have stayed longer.
Wesley UMC, Redlands, CA.
West Anaheim UMC, Anaheim, CA.
University UMC, Riverside, CA.
St. Paul’s UMC, Oxnard, CA.
Christ UMC, Bethal Park, PA
Trinity UMC, Bethel Park, PA
Northbrook UMC, Northbrook, IL
St. Paul’s UMC. Cincinnati, OH
During the financial crisis earlier in the decade, as with most of America, we were doing everything possible to generate extra income. It was then that we discovered the Goodwill Outlet in Portland, Oregon, where piles of unwanted consumer wreckage is for sale by the pound. Shortly afterwards, we met a woman in Arkansas who sold high-end baby diapers and onesies out of recycled cashmere sweaters. She hand-made these eco-conscious kiddy clothes but she needed a material supplier. That’s where we came in. We would go to Goodwill Outlet, and like pigs searching for a truffle, dig through dunes of filthy clothing for 100% pure, unblemished cashmere sweaters. I got so good at it that I could tell just by the touch if it met her criteria—even before looking at the label. After a while I could identify them by looking at the texture from a distance. We would mail boxes of 50 and 60 sweaters to Arkansas and she would pay us by the unit.
The Goodwill Outlet has a fascinating subculture, filled with emigrants, treasure hunters, resale buyers, hipsters, consumer conscious moms, and people down on their luck. I’ve always had good fortune at the one in Hampton, Virginia and visited it last Saturday afternoon. Afterwards, I stopped by Bethany UMC in Hampton and Parkview UMC in Newport News. There was an event happening at Parkway so I didn’t stay longer than to pull up and take a few pictures from an open car window. In retrospect, this was probably not a good idea. Folks in the parking lot undoubtedly thought I was casing the place for felony robbery. When someone pulls up in front of your building, rolls down his window and takes a series of quick snaps before speeding away, mischief is usually imminent.
Bethany UMC’s Roof
The Bethany building, in contrast, was empty and I took more time to explore. As with many A-frame structures, they seem more impressive in person than in a digital file. Bethany was tall, and while not especially unique in its features or ground plan, represented a near perfect example of A-frame construction. While the sanctuary was a nearly flawless triangle, white swooping eaves gave it the sense of an expertly constructed boy scout-era tent. Its roof may have been original because there were years of mineral deposits and patina on the shingles and gutters which gave it unexpected streaks of color. While circling the building, I discovered a back entrance to a Christian education building simply titled “Wesley Hall”. Nothing looked like it had changed since 1965 except for the plastic cigarette disposal receptacle. I put the picture on front page slideshow gallery.
Visiting these churches is like going to the Goodwill Outlet. You never know what you will find. The most important difference between the two is at one you might get an image showcasing the past. At the other you might get bedbugs.
The Methodist Church of the 1950s and 60s saw a proliferation of new facilities named Aldersgate, after John Wesley’s journal article describing his “Aldersgate experience”. Wesley described of a 1738 London experience, “In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans…. About a quarter before nine… I felt my heart strangely warmed.” This journal entry went to influence the naming of hundreds of United Methodist Churches built in the midcentury. Anecdotally, I have observed many the facilities I visit are named Aldersgate, after a saint (St. Mark’s, St. Paul’s, and St. Andrew’s), or after the town at which it is located, the ubiquitous “First” church.
Aldersgate UMC, South Brunswick
I got up early to stake out Aldersgate UMC in South New Brunswick, New Jersey. On their website, I admired a distinctive, vintage cross-hatch pattern on the exterior. When I had called the office, the administrative assistant didn’t seem to recognize what I was talking about so when I had arrived to see the pattern mostly covered by tree overgrowth.
New City UMC, New York
UMC of New City, New York is one my favorite buildings so far in this project. Located parallel to the Hudson River, about 30 miles from Manhattan, this 300-seat, saddle roof sanctuary is nestled between evergreen trees in the upscale, distinctly New York suburb of Rockland County. While Rev. Barbara Hoffman was out of town, Children’s Ministry Director Pat Javenes gave me a tour of Angle’s Attic Thrift Shop, a series of converted Sunday school classrooms which had racks of clothing and kitchen gadgets. It is no secret that many suburban Methodist church congregations are contracting, so spaces originally designed for one use are often transformed into another. As she left, Pat recalled the packed Sunday school classes of several decades ago. We just want more children here.
UMC of Danbury
As I pulled up to UMC of Danbury late Friday afternoon, the parking lot was abandoned. After repeated emails and phone calls, nothing. It looked impressive from the outside, so I poked around and drove to Massachusetts for the night.
My goal for this trip was to visit the most unique, most striking examples of UMC midcentury architecture in the Northeast Corridor, and I was both surprised and content with my results. According to the official Methodist jurisdiction, the Northeast starts at Washington D.C. and includes Pennsylvania to the west and up to Maine. I didn’t get to either of those states (but I’m not finished yet). Based on my research, time available, and resources, I decided to focus on the following seven congregations: Frist Danbury, CT, Framingham UMC, MA, Aldersgate, Wilmington, DE, UMC of New City, NY, Fairhaven UMC Gaithersburg, MD, First Gilford in NH, and Aldersgate UMC East Brunswick, New Jersey. After driving over 1500 miles with periodic bouts of road rash, I only made five successful stops in the Northeast.
Have you ever stopped at McDonalds hoping for a clean bathroom but were disappointed? I have.
Before Washington D.C., I made a few stops at Good Shephard UMC in Dale City and Aldersgate UMC in Alexandria. The former, a traditional, conical-roof shaped seating about 300 people in padded chairs in a circular pattern which surrounded the communion table. I asked Rev. Sara Porter how she preached in a circular venue where she answered, “I roam around”. I like that answer and think it plays to the strengths of the space. She mentioned that during its yearly years, Good Shephard was on the outskirts of Dale City and served as a social hall for mixers, dances, and community fundraisers. It still could be that.
Good Shepherd, Dale City
Good Shepherd reminded me of a larger question for which I have no satisfying answer. Is a church considered midcentury if the bones of the building are intact while the interior decorations are contemporary? At what point does the building stop being authentically period if anachronistic felt banners, freestanding chairs, and new carpet covers the floor? Certainly, Internationalists would say that the building is fundamentally compromised.
Have you ever left a valuable camera case on the floor of a church in a Washington D.C. suburb? I have.
Aldersgate, Alexandria
When I pulled up to Aldersgate UMC Alexandra, VA I knew I had hit a windfall prize. Not only did the upward curvature of the semi-gabled roof cut against the sky, but I could tell by the pristine grounds that the facility was well maintained. After briefly Introducing myself to Pastor Emily Moore-Diamond, the administrative assistant took me to the sanctuary where I was surprised to see a golden, ringed partition separating the narthex from the sanctuary. It was so striking that it did not seem to fit one of the most defining tenants of the International-style architectural movement: Buildings should be stripped down and utilitarian with a lack of superficial adornment. This architectural choice only reminded me of the diverse, Americanized style which reflects not only the personality of the community but the Church writ large.
Aldersgate, Wilmington
Have you ever borrowed a 2020 Toyota Corolla from Dollar-Rent-A-Car and spilled melted hot fudge on the seat and driver’s console? I have.
Delaware was a few hours away and I was negotiating a storm. If I drove too fast, I would land in the middle of a downpour. If I drove too slow then Alderstage in Wilmington, Delaware would be closed. I opted for the latter and parked in front of a Dressbarn in the lot across the street. This served as one of those tricky shoots where I had to stand on one side of a busy four-lane highway and time my shots to avoid cars. In situations where I miss my church contact and all the doors are locked I normally check all the outside doors and see if any were open. In this case, there was a winded looking woman in yoga pants who let me in. She was too tired to ask questions and probably assumed I was the church accountant. I walked with a purpose and scanned the sanctuary and decided to come back later.
Have you ever used GPS for Delaware and been sent to dental care? I have.
Since beginning this project in August 2018, I have visited thousands of United Methodist Church websites and have spent hours on Google Street View. So far, I have identified 956 churches which have midcentury features, some partially renovated and many in their original state. The majority, unsurprisingly, are in the Western Jurisdiction. Here are a breakdown of my findings:
Western Jurisdiction: 275
Claremont UMC at Christmas (Claremont, CA)
South Central Jurisdiction: 207
Southeast Jurisdiction: 175
North Central Jurisdiction: 171
Northeastern Jurisdiction: 128
With a project this large these numbers are estimates. I based my initial visual evaluation on commonly used midcentury techniques like modern rooflines, breeze blocks, abstract stained glass, a lack of ornamentation, and ground plans popular in the International Style architectural movement. Vegetation was a more important predictor than I had initially thought. Mature trees and ivy growth gave insight into build dates.
My primary point of information was on the conference level of each jurisdiction, then the district level where I searched for congregation websites and physical addresses. This proved problematic because many UMCs do not have a web presence or, in some cases, the URL has expired. One church URL listed on an official UMC conference website linked to a Japanese porn site.
Against intuition, church websites are generally a poor place to look for large exterior photographs of their buildings so I went to Google Street View where results were mixed. Sometimes, I just had an address and found out that the Google Street View car hasn’t driven down that road yet.
The volume of UMC buildings in United States is staggering and makes this project more vast than I had imagined. For all I found, there were many I missed. Sometimes structures have changed denominations, some sit fallow, and in some cases churches have just disappeared. Wisconsin and Michigan proved the most problematic, the former having no comprehensive list of their churches (that I could find) and the latter going through a complicated redistricting. Texas was the most time consuming. Wyoming was quick. Midcentury in Alaska is almost nonexistent.
After identifying that a church might fall under the dates of my project, the next step was to reach out via email for more information. Most churches have email but a surprising number do not, or in many cases, the email bounces back. Numerous UMC websites do not provide an email addresses to the public but have anti-spam contact fields, which do not—in my experience—work well.
The message briefly outlines the project and asks two questions: 1) What year was your sanctuary dedicated? and 2) Are there any interesting architectural features? Some respondents gave one or two sentence answers and some sent pages of history. Some refer it to an “expert” whom I never hear from. While answers are useful, the most valuable aspect is the initial human contact, establishing a level of trust after which I ask for photographs and can dig deeper into the story of the building.
Of the congregations I have emailed (about 90% of the churches above), a small percentage from each jurisdiction have responded.
Western Jurisdiction: 11%
South Central Jurisdiction: 10%
Southeast Jurisdiction: 7%
North Central Jurisdiction: 8%
Northeastern Jurisdiction: 18%
The slight percentages could be for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the email was ignored or sent to an account that is active but not regularly checked. Perhaps the reader thought it was a scam or was uncomfortable giving out information to a stranger. My best guess is that pastors are overwhelmed with an avalanche of email and did not have the bandwidth to address non-essential questions.
I am in the midst of a second email campaign, this time targeting administrative assistants rather than pastors. After that I will begin cold calling. My target percentage is a 50% contact rate for each jurisdiction, concentrating on the most distinct, striking examples of architecture.
As you may have noticed, there is just a portion of the database on available on this website, comprised of churches whose sanctuary build date I have verified between 1945-1975. I will add content as it is confirmed.
Raleigh is just around the corner and has a few decent examples of architecture to acknowledge.
St. James UMC
When I pulled into the parking lot of St. James UMC I was disappointed. Apparently, it underwent major surgery in the mid-2000s which dramatically compromised the exterior of the building. If you search Google Images, you’ll see a series of six geometrical fasciae on each side of the sanctuary, whose repeating sawtooth pattern defines the period. Once I entered I was relieved to see that the stained glass was still intact.
From the exterior, Highland UMC there are few indicators of midcentury features. In the sanctuary, however, there is a beautiful plaster cross on the right chancel wall, highlighted by two spotlights which cast an atmospheric shadow. At the back of the sanctuary there was an odd, refracted stained glass cross set with epoxy. Viewed from the outside, you could see the fully-realized stained glass feature but from the sanctuary only the bottom three-quarters is visible, blocked by the ceiling. I asked facilities manager Tom Lamb why but he wasn’t privy to the architect’s reasoning.
Highland UMC
Highland UMC
Another classic element at Highland are the period pews. Tom said that the blue cushions were replaced, along with the carpet but that the benches are original. Gretchen Buggeln said in her essential work The Suburban Church: Modernism and Community in Postwar America that closed-ended pews fell out of popularity in the 1960s with many congregations preferring the open-ended style. Maybe people thought it was easier to slide out if the sermon was too long.
According to NCModernist, North Carolina has “the 4th largest concentration of Modernist houses in America” but I don’t know how they calculate this statistic. The Research Triangle seems to be overwhelmed by upscale apartment blight and developments scoring high on The McMansion Scale. Who knows, it may be interesting in 50 years but now it is psychologically punishing. If there is a large convergence of mid-century houses in Raleigh I sure haven’t seen them and I can’t imagine them in Charlotte.
And the region has outgrown its public transportation. I heard that the Research Triangle has one of the highest clusters of PhDs in the United States but apparently advanced degrees can’t agree upon a comprehensive light rail system which connects Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh. According to Wake County, an average of 188 people move into the region per day and 148 people move out, leaving a 40-new resident net gain. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill might be the fastest growing region without a local rail system.
I’m always on the lookout for weird attractions when I visit a city and a great resource is Roadside America. When researching the capitol of North Carolina, the most promising thing I found was a self-kicking machine at the Angus Barn Restaurant. The device is wheel with cowboy boots attached that rigorously kicks you in the behind when you pull a lever. Is that the atonement you pay for visiting Raleigh?
Oleander UMC
Oleander United Methodist Church is a small building along a busy thoroughfare linking downtown Wilmington and Highway 74 going to Wrightsville Beach. Among the interesting features are a protruding brick façade and a tower of breeze blocks integrated above the sanctuary’s front entrance. I reached out to Oleander a few times but was never able to make contact with the leadership.
In September 2018, Wilmington suffered a direct hit from hurricane Florence and is still recovering from the event. The storm surge ranged from 9 to 13 feet and the region experienced 20 to 30 inches of rain. I don’t know to what extent it effected Oleander UMC. I drove through the region in early October to get a sense of the damage. Naturally, the residents of Wilmington were dealing with the physical and psychological damage of the weather event. Six months later, the bright, blue tarpaulins still dot middle-class neighborhoods and four-story mansions, half-constructed with exposed Tyvek panels, vacation mansions are sprinkled about Carolina Beach.
Cocoa Beach 1st UMC
Between 1950 and 1960, Brevard County experienced a 371% growth rate, and with the space race at its zenith, this is no surprise. Cocoa Beach 1st erected their current A-frame structure in 1956, which seems massive comparison to train of surf shops and cheap pancake joints . An administrative assistant gave me a brief tour of the building, the most interesting feature a green spiral staircase from the alter an office suite on the first floor. When NASA programs were cut in 2010 the area’s development slowed, but the weekend I was there Space X launched the unmanned Falcon 9 rocket. Cocoa Beach may again see the growth it experienced in the 1950s and 60s.
The biggest surprise of this trip was 1st Stuart farther down on the Treasure Coast which rose like a crane from the manicured lawn. The front-on photographic view from the church’s website doesn’t reveal the graceful lines of a nested bird you see from the side. It reminds me of the fish church, 1st Presbyterian in Stamford, Connecticut, both buildings are appreciated when viewed from a distance. I didn’t have a wide-angle lens so I could not get the shot I wanted, but it was impressive nonetheless. Administrator Catherine Ellis gave me a brief tour and answered a few of my usual questions. If you are in the area, this is the building to visit.
1st Stuart UMC
Christ Church in Ft. Lauderdale is a pearl. Situated near Hott Leggz Sports Bar and Mambo Room Dance and Event Center, Christ Church is archetypal South Florida which is one of the most recognizable facades in Methodist architecture. Crosby Willet, famous for creating windows at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. and the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco oversaw the 1974 stained glass installation. The faceted glass is done in a diamond-shaped grid and when backlit after dark and viewed from the street is luminous.
Christ Church UMC
Mai-Kai Restaurant and Polynesian Show consistently tops the list of tiki bars and I had to see it. It turned out to be a little different from my expectations—less Enchanted Tiki Room and more Fantasy Island meets a haunted house. Designers for themed restaurants like The Rainforest Café and Bubba Gump probably go Mai-Kai for inspiration but never get it right. Mai-Kai’s dusty catacombs reveal a Polynesian-themed garden, complete with waterfall and weathered totems. It needs about a 5-million-dollar renovation, but of course that would ruin it.
It opened at 5 PM and at 4:30 PM the line was almost 20 deep, most of whom I imagine were there for the 8 PM show or, like me, the happy hour. I ordered a mai-tai which may seem like a boring choice at a tiki bar which is on the National Register of Historic Places, I fell victim of the tyranny of choice after looking at the massive mixed drink list. It tasted like hibiscus.
This quick trip to Florida resonated with me in some unexpected ways. After arriving on a late-night flight and getting a quick start on the next morning, I headed to Pine Castle UMC to photograph their unique, curved portico over the sanctuary’s main entrance. It was before church office hours so I poked around the exterior. Almost immediately, I was given the side-eye by an idling motor coach driver who immediately called someone. A man introducing himself as the church accountant met me in the parking lot and inquired about my purpose on the grounds, of which I explained to him my project. Normally, when arrive unannounced it is of little concern for whoever is on staff and they give me a quick tour of the grounds. The accountant said that access to the sanctuary is unavailable to the public outside of services without prior approval from the church board, a policy which I found strangely authoritarian. After a few minutes of conversation, however, I found that the location was a few short miles from The Pulse nightclub shootings in 2016 and that enhanced security precautions were put in place. While I find no fault with Pine Castle’s decision-making, it is a troubling time when houses of worship are under such threat, perceived or real, and feel compelled to keep such a tight watch on their building. As I toured the city, making stops and Azalea Park UMC and Conway UMC I speculated in what other ways the Orlando has changed since June 2016, when 49 were killed and 53 were injured at the hands of Omar Mateen.
Wildwood
The following day I visited the Usonian House on Florida Southern College campus before meeting a wonderful woman at Wildwood UMC, about an hour northwest of Orlando. I had been in contact with Schuyler Young, a parishioner at Wildwood, who told me that a major renovation is emanate and that I was welcome to take pictures. The 1967 building is a traditional A-frame, surrounded by offices and Christian education buildings, that had characteristics consistent with the era. The most striking feature was the front door handles, something that Schuyler described as looking like “golf clubs” but that I loved. During our chat, she mentioned that a portion of the congregation was from The Villages. I guess I must have looked puzzled because she explained that The Villages is not a city but a census-designated retirement community with a population of over 125,000 people, 100 miles of golf cart paths, an average income of 93k, has over 2,400 organized clubs and 10,000 tee times per day. How did I not know about this? Imagine the unexplored subcultures, the back-alley secrets, reunion concert tours, and the amount of prune whip consumed per year. I must know more about this paradise!
Church custodians are perhaps the largest repository of information about the grounds, usually knowing when renovations have taken place, what features are original, and what characteristics of the building are difficult to maintain. Replacing sanctuary lightbulbs are a big challenge. Frank Lloyd Wright may have said, “Space is the breath of art,” but I can’t imagine he considered the epic task of removing pews to make way for the scissor lift. Architects love the sense of grandeur a 50-foot high nave provides, but maintaining such a space has proven to be a costly and time-consuming task for congregations. Burnt-out bulbs are only one challenge of many. Some chancel windows have not been cleaned since installation; some out-of-reach areas have not been dusted in 50 years.
While I have formally lived in Portland for only few years, I consider it my home. Having grown up near Vancouver (the one across the Columbia River) it is an area of which I am familiar. A high-school friend loaned me his truck to so that I could visit and photograph Gresham UMC, Portland 1st, Forest Grove UMC, and Tigard UMC.
In the 1980s and 90s, a person was hard-pressed to find a decent meal in Portland. Now, it seems like food trucks line every corner. While most metropolitan areas have one or two artistic enclaves (You’re on notice, Atlanta. Little Five Points is small and affected for a city of 5 million residents.), Portland is a honeycomb of livable neighborhoods, all of which are teeming with restaurants and galleries. And they love mid-century. Some of my favorite places to visit while there include the tiki bars Hale Pele and The Alibi, and Lounge Lizard, a vintage shop with quality stuff. Those looking for pristine mid-century furniture should check out lookmodern on S.E. 8th and Hawthorne. They have masterful restoration specialists which make their stock the best mid-century furniture I have ever seen for sale in the United States.
I’ve always been a New York guy, even having been born in the Central Valley. My most vivid memories of L.A. consist of driving through the city at midnight in route to my grandparents’ house in Vista. Sometimes my father would turn on a avant-guard jazz station which, along with the streetlight tracers, turned the two-hour journey from Santa Clarity to Mission Viejo into a dream state.
In December, I returned to Southern California.
Like most of us, I am irritated traffic so I tried an experiment: This trip a would be done only via public transportation. In retrospect, it wasn’t so much a tactical mistake but a series of missed opportunities. During four days, I only shot four churches: La Verne, Sierra Madre, 1st UMC of San Gabriel, and Claremont.
La Verne UMC is most famous for serving as the set for the final scene in The Graduate where Ben Braddock runs away with Elaine Robinson, leaving her husband-to-be at the altar. The building and environs has changed so little, it seems stuck in time. Aside from the Christmas wreathes on the doors I could imagine Dustin Hoffman and Katherine Ross running towards a waiting city bus on D street.
The timing of my Claremont visit off and proved to be the biggest scheduling error. Midcentury superstar Richard Neutra designed Claremont in 1959 and based on interior images I had anticipated it to be one of the most exciting stops on the trip. It is, however, that impressive on the outside and since the doors were locked, I had no access to his great, asymmetrically designed sanctuary. The outside shared more characteristics with a one-story suburban rancher than a house of worship. Claremont deserves as second visit once the Christmas decorations come down.
1st UMC of San Gabriel was one of many mid-century construction hybrids, using the a-frame sanctuary model but with a smart exterior of random rubble-style masonry. San Gabriel was closed as well so I’m not sure to what extent the mid-century interior has been preserved. The best vantage point to shoot was across the four-lane North San Gabriel Boulevard but almost every shot I took had a car in the middle of the frame. Out of a 100 or so shots I only had 2 or 3 that worked.
On Sunday, I sauntered up the gentle slope of the San Gabriel Mountains, 40 minutes north of clogged I-240 to visit Sierra Madre UMC. Situated across from the similarly named Sierra Donuts, Sierra Madre served as a classic example of the A-frame used so frequently during the expansion of Pasadena in the 1940s. Reverend Sangman Shin took me on a tour of the facilities while the parishioners seemed vaguely curious about my project. Curious enough to invite me for a cup of coffee and cake, but not so much as to ask why I was taking pictures of the kitchen stove. The most compelling element of Sierra Madre was the clean, period specific font used on the berm signage. Like the old Department of Pasadena Department of Public Works font, its symmetry and grace seem timeless.
Upon arriving in Seattle over the weekend, I had the opportunity to take a loop around the sound, beginning in Pulallup and circling up through North Seattle before ending the day in Olympia. Along the way, I stopped at Puyallup UMC, Renton 1st UMC, 1st UMC Bellevue, Sand Point Community UMC, Tibbetts UMC, Highline UMC, Des Moines UMC, Fircrest UMC, and 1st UMC of Olympia.
Of the nine buildings I visited, some exceeded my expectations. Other shoots were more challenging. The most striking example of mid-century in the Seattle area was Sand Point Community. Aside from an extremely friendly pastor, Reverend Nico Romeijn-Stout, who greeted me with his equally energetic dog, Sand Point seemed almost unchanged since its construction. A problem with photographing midcentury churches are contemporary adornments (often felt wall banners) lining the walls. Sand Point was banner free which allowed me to focus on the frozen-in-time architecture. It is definitely worth a visit to worship or just to admire the craftsmanship.
I was excited to see Fircrest based on the sweeping peak of the sanctuary that I saw on Google Maps and it was equally impressive in person, but the lens that I was using didn’t capture the aesthetic for which I was hoping. I had used a wide-angle for exterior shots. Perhaps a telephoto lens would have worked better. Since I am relatively new to architectural photography, I still have a lot to learn.
The SEATAC area definitely has some architectural gems and deserves a second look. Having grown up in the northwest, returning to the region will give me a chance to visit friends as well as follow up on the project.